


walking on tightropes in the vacuum of space

by weatheredlaw



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Multi, Threesome - F/F/F, lady!bruce, lady!tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-11
Updated: 2012-08-11
Packaged: 2017-11-11 21:44:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/483213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weatheredlaw/pseuds/weatheredlaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them." -- Sylvia Plath</p>
            </blockquote>





	walking on tightropes in the vacuum of space

**Author's Note:**

> Look I just need more femslash in my life so here you go. Bruce = Bryce.

Bryce wilts from the Hulk into her old self, green melting into pale skin, a dusting of freckles blooming on her nose. She groans and pitches forward, catching herself on Tony's shoulder and throwing up spectacularly onto the cracked pavement. “Clothes, green bean,” Tony says, passing on a sundress handed to her by a terrified woman clutching a dry cleaning bag on the sidewalk. Bryce pulls it shakily over her head, but she pushes away Tony's hand when she tries to help and they limp to dinner together. Someone's radio echoes through the empty streets, letting everyone know that it's survived the fallout.

_Hello darkness my old friend  
I’ve come to talk with you again_

Asshole radio. 

Tony doesn't really know what shawarma is, but it's meat and it's hot and the sauce melts in her mouth, down her throat and curls in her stomach like a cat. It's so good she thinks she might cry. She thinks it might be the most amazing thing she's ever put in her mouth. 

Bryce puts her food away like it's her last meal, annihilating what's in front of her ruthless efficiency -- Tony knows there must be a precedence for it. Bryce finishes Natasha's food, too, the basket of fries and meat pushed her direction without invitation. Slowly, the team begins to dissipate as they finish eating, disappearing out the door and into the rubble, melting into the backdrop like they were never even there. In the end, it's just Tony, Steve, and Bryce, slowly eating because that's all that's left to do. When Steve almost falls asleep at the table, Tony figures it's as good a time as any to call it a day. Her _cells_ are exhausted. She can feel the effort of mitosis dragging at her brain, see every cell splitting in slow-motion in her head, every fiber wailing, every--

"Doesn't matter what anyone else says," Steve murmurs, wiping his mouth and standing. "You did good." Tony isn't sure who he's talking to, but she knows he must mean everyone. That's just the kind of guy Steve is. He lets a hand linger on her shoulder, skin swollen with apologies. Tony knows they have a long way to go, the two of them, but right now, they can be friends. 

Outside, Bryce stretches and leans heavily on Tony's shoulder, for just a second, before glancing around at the mess they've made of things, eyes narrowed in a way that scream _god not again_. Tony wants to kiss the corners of her face until she _stops_ because it's making something sad and lonely grown tendrils in the pit of her stomach. 

"Take me home." Bryce's mouth is close to Tony's, breath hot on the shell of her ear. She doesn't stand quite right, but when Tony looks at her, her eyes are clear and brown and focused. There's blood drying on her temple. Tony licks her thumb and wipes it off. 

With great care, she twists her fingers into Bryce’s and drags her home, because she doesn't know what else to do.

 

 

"Please don't get spooked and run away." Tony murmurs. She's taken Bryce to the tower, pulled her into her room like she's expecting something big and grand -- but now they're standing six feet apart from one another and Tony feels like maybe this was a bad idea.

"I like this dress." Bryce tugs it over her head and tosses it to the floor, exposed again. Tony feels a wounded noise claw its way out of her throat as Bryce takes her hand and splays Tony's fingers across one of her breasts. "We're alive," she says. Tony nods helplessly, touching pale, scraped skin. There's more blood on them than she realized. She can feel a gash brushing against her own shirt, throbbing and bleeding. "We're a mess, but we're alive."

"You smell like concrete."

"You smell like space." 

Tony laughs, but it sounds like there's a bird in her throat and everything closes up. Bryce reaches forward and tugs at the hem of her shirt until Tony raises her arms obediently and it comes off, dropped in the pile of things they'll burn later. Her jeans are next, then her torn bra and underwear. All of it goes, dropped to the ground until they stand there, like a naked Gemini, bruises and freckles and scars marking them like slanted constellations against an inverted sky. 

"I'm so tired." Tony leans forward and Bryce wraps her arms around her, fingers stroking the hard line of her back. "I want to move, but I'm so tired."

"Let me draw you a bath." 

_God_ , Tony hasn't heard those words since she was a girl, her hair chopped off with her own scissors and a bruise blossoming on her cheek. Her mother reaches around and curls an arm over her chest, brushes a hand over her tearstained face. She smells like traces of Howard's aftershave, of baby powder and Chanel lipstick. _Don't cry, baby girl. Mama'll draw you a bath._

Bryce pulls Tony into the bathroom like it's her own, helping her into the porcelain tub. They leave filthy handprints against the white and Tony remembers that it's been years now since she's even taken a bath. She closes her eyes and listens to the sound of the pipes wrenching to life, hot water spraying from the faucet, the heavy thud of the stopper in the drain. Bryce crawls in after her and they sit knee to knee, letting water fill the tub until it reaches their breasts and an oily film grows over the top. "Is this okay for you?"

"I don't know." Bryce reaches up and wipes dirt and blood from Tony's face and whispers, "Come here." Tony turns around and leans into her and they dip under the water together. Bryce lets Tony bring them back up when she's ready, then lets her dip herself back again. "Yeah." Tony sighs. "Yeah it's okay." Bryce drops a kiss onto the top of her head, draws her hand over Tony's breasts, down the soft expanse of her stomach and touches her thigh. " _Please--_ "

"I've got you." Bryce kisses her against. "I've got you, it's okay." She dips her fingers between Tony's legs, making lazy circles over her clit. The bath is so long, so wide, they can stretch out, hold one another in the cooling water. Tony pillows her head against Bryce's chest, closing her eyes and forgetting space and sky and freefall. She can feel a pink flush crawling over her breasts and up her neck as Bruce's fingers circle faster, another rolling her left nipple, exposing it to the air and pinching gently. Tony keens and arches her hips off the basin of the tub and comes, gasping and shaking and grabbing onto the edge. "You're okay, you're okay. You're just fine." Bryce kisses her shoulder. "That was beautiful. That was perfect."

Tony finally gets out of the tub, wrinkled and shaking and warm, her body trembling and wanting. Bryce doesn't bother with a towel -- just pulls her across the room and they drop onto the bed, soaking the sheets and dripping water on everything. 

"Where's Pepper?" Bryce asks, dipping her head and kissing the hollow of Tony's throat, licking the water pooled there.

"Coming home."

"Is this alright?" She nips the skin over Tony's jugular. "Is she okay with this?" 

Tony nods frantically, trying to get every inch of her body under Bryce's hands. She wants to be touched until she dies, until she doesn't know what it felt like before. She misses Pepper, suddenly, _painfully_. Feels her absence like a bullet hole. When she gets here, Tony's going to ravage her, she can already picture it. Bryce's hand reaches between her legs again, slips inside easily. She's so wet, so greedy and hungry -- she clenches around Bryce's fingers. Long, thin, clever fingers that stretch her open and curl. Bryce manhandles Tony onto her back and holds her there, kissing her hard and sucking on her tongue, drawing everything she can into her mouth. She pushes in another finger, fucking her with three now, her thumb stroking hard over Tony's clit. Tony groans, rolling into the contact, holding fistfuls of the sheets and scrambling for purchase, hooking her legs around Bryce.

"You look so good," she murmurs, dropping her mouth to Tony's ear. "You look so good around my fingers. I thought about this when I met you. I thought about it when we were on the bridge and in the lab. I thought about it after, in the street. I thought about kissing you then, in front of the whole world. I wanted you so bad. Do you know what it's like? To be this _lonely?_ "

" _Yes_ ," Tony hisses, fucking herself down, trying to get _more._

"I -- _God_ , you feel so good. Come around my fingers. Will you? I want to feel it, it's been so long, I haven't... _God_ , I've almost forgotten how it feels--" She pushes down on Tony's clit and Tony _wails_ , coming and clenching around Bryce's fingers and dragging her nails over any skin she can get ahold of. Tony quakes, her entire body collapsing in on a central point, skin feeding into a blackhole. This is what she wanted. This is what she needed, to be pulled apart completely.

And Bryce is so wet above her, hair still dripping from the bath, water falling off the end of her nose. Her chest is slick with water and sweat and she clutches Tony's hand between her legs.

"I haven't in so long, I don't even know if--"

"Let me."

" _Fuck_ \--" She grinds down on Tony's hand, desperate for friction. " _Tony--_ "

"That's good, that's really good." Tony pushes herself up and pulls Bryce into her lap, thrusting two fingers into her cunt and curving them hard inside. Bryce shouts, grabbing the back of Tony's neck for support and burying her face in her shoulder. "Don't hide, it's okay. Look at me. _Look_ at me." Bryce's forehead falls onto Tony's sharply and Tony _watches_ as she comes undone. "Come for me. Let me see. Baby, you're okay, you're just fine." _I've got you, it's okay, I won't let go, you're safe here_ \-- Bryce's head falls back and she comes. Tony feels it like a bone snapping into place, relief clouding Bryce's eyes as she melts into Tony's lap. They tumble back onto the bed, wet and breathing heavy, touching gently at the curves and corners of each other, making it reality, making it fact.

Bryce strokes her thumb over Tony's forehead, catching water beading above her brow. "I haven't...it's been ages."

"You thought you couldn't?"

"Not with someone else."

Tony smiles. "Maybe you haven't heard, but I'm sort of a sex goddess."

"The wikipedia page doesn't lie."

"Not a reliable source of information."

Bryce laughs and rolls over, throwing her arm out. "Maybe I'll ask Pepper, then." She looks over. "Is she...is this okay? For real. She doesn't--"

"There are rules." Tony closes her eyes. "None have been broken."

"Do I even want to know them?"

"I signed papers about it in triplicate, notarized and approved. I don't want to get into it. Pepper and I don't date on the basis that I'm a philandering whore who can't keep it to herself. We're together because I've given that up and because I love her. There can be...allowances."

"So I'm an allowance."

"Consider yourself an exception. And someone I like very much and would like to keep in my life for a long time."

Bryce snorts. "You don't even know me."

"Yeah, well you only _think_ you know me." Tony sits up on her elbows. "You're a catch. And you're in my bed and I'd like it to happen more often. Preferably sandwiched between me and Pepper, but if you want her to yourself sometimes I'll understand. She's got a great tongue."

" _Tony_ \--"

"Please." She leans forward and Bryce tilts her face up, their lips brushing as Tony closes her eyes. "I want to keep you. Just for a while." She kisses her slow, teeth click and fingers gripping Bryce's shoulder. "And I want you to keep me." Tony settles back onto the bed. "I don't know where you'll go after this. I can take you wherever. But maybe you could come back. When you felt like it." Tony strokes her arm. "I don't want to be the thing that ties you down. I just want to be someone you can come home to."

 

 

In the morning, Tony wakes up alone, throwing a frantic arm across the bed and scrambling for Bryce. 

"She's gone." Pepper leans against the doorway, pulling a t-shirt over her head and tugging her hair out of its bun. "She left you a note."

"You're back."

"I am. You're naked."

"I had a day."

"I saw." Pepper sits on the edge of the bed. Tony pushes herself up. "I'm sorry I missed your call."

"Sorry I didn't leave you a voicemail."

Pepper laughs, choking on something worse. "I'm glad you didn't." Tony moves over and Pepper crawls into the space next to her. She smells like airplanes and spearmint. "She'll come back, I think." Tony hums. "You like her."

"You would, too."

"I already do."

"I missed you." Tony kisses her neck and threads their fingers together.

Pepper murmurs, "Not by much," and stretches out, quickly falling asleep. When she's deep enough into it, Tony pushes herself out of bed and gets a real shower, opting to wander through the house in whatever tshirt she pulls out first. Anyone who bothers her today deserves to be shot on sight. 

There's a note pushed under container of scotch, probably because Bryce knows Tony a little bit better that Tony thought -- 

_Hey,_

I'm going because I want to, and I'm sorry about leaving you without waking you.  
Fury promised me a certain amount of protection, so I'm taking advantage of it and  
getting back to the work I was doing. Sorry I didn't get to meet Pepper, but I  
will be back, because I don't know if I can stay away from you forever. I wouldn't  
mind being tied down for a bit, but right now me and Hulk needs some breathing room  
and honestly, there's no one heavy enough in the world to keep us under for too  
longer. Maybe this time we'll find peace with each other. Might be for the best.

You would be my epicenter, if I could just let you. I think I need to reteach myself  
how to invest in someone. It's been a long time since I let feelings determine my  
next course of action. Maybe you're bringing more change to my life than I thought  
you would. 

I wish we could all keep each other, but I need space and you need to be grounded.  
We have lessons to learn. I think it's time we spent some energy on ourselves.   
Look for me when the seasons change. I don't think I can stay away too long.

_Soon,  
B._

 

Tony folds the note up and slips it back under the bottle, closing the door. JARVIS turns on the coffee maker without asking. Somewhere, outside, the rebuild is beginning, and Tony is about to be out a few million dollars.

But for now, she listens to the steady rumble of the percolator and searches the apartment for one of Pepper's trashy paperbacks.

She can go back to being a mess tomorrow. Today, she's on the mend. 

Today, things are looking up.


End file.
